Background
Previous Pogues albums had focused on an Irish folk/punk rock hybrid. On If I Should Fall from Grace with God, jazz, Spanish folk and Middle Eastern folk were added to the mix. The addition of Spanish and Middle Eastern sounds was a sign of things to come; on 1990's Hell's Ditch these would become more prominent. On this album, however, it was very much Irish folk to the fore, especially on songs such as the title track, "Bottle of Smoke", "Lullaby of London", "Sit Down by the Fire", and the rendition of the traditional jig "The Lark in the Morning" as the coda to "Turkish Song of the Damned". These songs were more typical of earlier Pogues albums, mostly fast and heavily textured. The album was also the first by the band to utilize a complete drum kit.
Also prominent were the ballads "Thousands Are Sailing", "The Broad Majestic Shannon", and the Christmas hit, "Fairytale of New York", a duet with Kirsty MacColl. "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" showed the political side to their music, the first part being about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the second half about the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, two groups of men wrongly imprisoned for terrorism offences and held in jail. The song also makes a passing reference to the Loughgall Martyrs with the line "while over in Ireland eight more men lay dead, kicked down and shot in the back of the head".
The album marked the most substantial line-up change to date for The Pogues, as it was the first full-length album on which multi-instrumentalist Terry Woods and bassist Darryl Hunt appear. It also marked the departure of one of the original members, bassist Cait O'Riordan.
The alternative album cover is a collage of faked photos of the group's members, in which their faces have been superimposed onto a shot of Irish author James Joyce. The picture of Joyce appears fourth from the left.
Due to time restriction of a vinyl LP the two tracks "South Australia" and "The Battle March Medley" have been omitted and can be found only on the CD release.
Read more about this topic: If I Should Fall From Grace With God
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